HTML Day 2025 Philly

August 2nd, 2025 | Washington Square Park, Philadelphia

Usually, I keep journals private, but I would be remiss not to capture this event in its native form: HTML!

Today, I am (currently!) attending the HTML Day event at Washington Square park in Philadelphia. I heard about this event on Bluesky, via NeoCities promotion, and learned that there was a Philly event. I woke up early, and decided to go for it and see what it was like.

I took the SEPTA 109 bus from my town in Delco to 69th Street Transportation Center, and then rode the SEPTA L train to 8th Street Station. From here, I walked to Washington Square until I found 2 kind people under a big awning/tent thing.

I was the first non-organizer to arrive, but at the time of writing there are 14 people here! We are all surprised, because there was no explicit promotion effort beyond a couple Fediverse posts.

We partook in some arts and crafts, shaking POSCA markers ad nauseum, hand-writing HTML divs on things, making NFC tags, messing around with pipe cleaners, and coding on our Thinkpads on a picnic blanket. I'm having fun!

A piece of paper with a handwritten note stating that we are strong together, with a reference to the HTML strong tag. Beneath it, a statement that computers should be fun.

I used the art supplies to make a simple sign.

A tree with paper taped to it asking onlookers to tap their phones. Beneath, another piece of paper asking what a div is.

Tapping your phone took you to a photo of the tree.

I had a good time, if not a short one, as I had other places to be that evening. I made a few nice connections, and I left feeling a bit more inspired to mess around with computers for fun again.

Thank you to the organizers, ragman and Pixel, for bringing us all together!